


Sea of Your Soul

by Inkyrius



Category: Persona 3
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Gen, ToT: Monster Mash, Trick or Treat: Trick
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-31
Updated: 2017-10-31
Packaged: 2019-01-25 18:51:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12538808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inkyrius/pseuds/Inkyrius
Summary: Minako’s having a strange evening by any metric. The streetlights going out at the same time as her MP3 player, the lack of other people, the coffins everywhere: none of it makes any sense. At least she has Orpheus by her side.





	Sea of Your Soul

**Author's Note:**

  * For [prosodiical](https://archiveofourown.org/users/prosodiical/gifts).



Minako’s having a strange evening by any metric. The streetlights going out at the same time as her MP3 player, the lack of other people, the coffins everywhere: none of it makes any sense.

But then, she hasn’t been to Port Island in nearly a decade. Maybe this is just what it’s like now.

She still picks up her pace. Orpheus doesn’t say anything, but she’s curled around Minako’s neck in the shape of something small and furry.

They make it to their new dorm without incident. It’s dark there, too, and the silence feels so absolute that Minako jumps when she’s greeted by a boy’s voice. “Welcome!” he says. Orpheus’s fur bristles.

Minako turns to say hello. Then she sees the boy who greeted her, and the words die on her lips. He’s young, maybe ten years old, and dressed in what look like raggedy pajamas. More importantly, his daemon is nowhere to be seen.

He says something she doesn’t catch. She’s watching him, trying to convince herself that she’s just missed something. His eyes stay on her the whole time, with none of the darting glances she’d expect from a child whose daemon is in hiding. She reaches a hand up absently to reassure herself of Orpheus’s presence.

The boy is holding out a piece of paper, so Minako takes it. The only words written on it are, “I chooseth this fate of mine own free will,” with a space below for her to sign. It’s the weirdest dorm contract she’s ever seen. She doesn’t see any fine print, though, so she signs it and hands it back.

The boy says something vague about time, then vanishes right before her eyes. It’s almost a relief. The impossibility of his disappearance seems to confirm the impossibility of a daemonless existence.

Further reassurance comes a moment later, when a girl comes down the hallway trailed by a yellow bird. The fact that said girl has a gun diminishes Minako’s relief only somewhat.

The lights come back on, and a girl with a swan daemon appears and introduces them both. Neither of them offer any explanations. Minako decides to just accept everything and worry about it later. It’s late, and she’s still a little freaked out, and she’s ready to not have to think about things for a bit.

She barely makes it to her bed before crashing, Orpheus curled around her hand protectively.

* * *

 

They’re on the roof, and in front of them is something that shouldn’t exist. It looks like someone took a patch of darkness, made it solid, and handed it a bunch of swords. Yukari says it’s called a Shadow. “I wonder why,” Orpheus says dryly, but there’s a quaver in her voice.

The monster advances on them. “Here goes,” Yukari says, pulling out the gun from earlier. Rather than aim it at the Shadow, though, she points it at Io.

Minako gasps. Orpheus makes a choked sound. The concept of willingly harming your daemon is so deeply wrong that Minako almost looks away, sickened.

Yukari seems to agree. She doesn’t manage to pull the trigger before she’s engulfed in a burst of flame. She flies backwards, the gun flung to the side. It skids across the roof before stopping at Minako’s feet.

She picks it up carefully, driven by some strange instinct. Orpheus has gone stock still. In a daze, Minako lines up the shot. She can feel her lips moving, but she can’t hear anything but her own heartbeat in her ears.

Orpheus has taken the shape of a nightingale, her body small and fragile, but hitting her is as easy as breathing. The sound of shattering glass fills the air. Orpheus rises into the sky, her body melting away before reforming into something humanoid.

“Thou art I,” Orpheus booms, “and I am thou.”

Minako stares at her in awe, but something is wrong. The place where she normally feels Orpheus twists, and her vision blurs. She sinks to her knees, clutching her head. She can’t think straight. She can barely breathe. Orpheus feels strangely distant, and Minako can’t see what’s happening to her but she’s clearly in pain.

Minako realizes she’s screaming only when she has to stop and draw breath. She can hear terrible squelching sounds coming from the direction of the Shadow.

The feeling vanishes as quickly as it came. Something unclenches and allows Orpheus to return to normal, though when Minako looks up, she’s still in her strange new humanoid form. Then even that fades, and she lands on Minako’s shoulder as a nightingale once more, exhausted.

Minako struggles back to her feet, though she’s swaying a little. The last scraps of the Shadow are heading towards Yukari. Minako rushes over and swings her naginata down on them without a second thought, and they too disperse.

Minako looks out over the rooftop one more time. There don’t seem to be any more Shadows. Yukari is safe, too, and whatever had happened to Orpheus is over. It’s all okay.

Minako just has time to smile contentedly before the world blurs once again. She doesn’t even try to fight it. The last thing she’s aware of is Yukari’s panicked voice.

* * *

 

Minako’s lying on her bed after a long day. Orpheus sits next to her in the form of a cat, her tail flicking lazily. It feels too normal for everything that she’s just had dumped on her. She still doesn’t understand at least a quarter of it, and she suspects Orpheus is equally confused. She also just wants to check in and make sure they’re both okay.

“So,” she says. “I didn’t actually ask you before I agreed to join SEES. Are you okay with all this? I mean, I’m apparently going to be shooting you a lot.”

Orpheus gives the feline equivalent of a shrug. “This is definitely the right decision. We can’t just let the Shadows take over.”

“I agree.” Minako has to say, she’s a little excited about getting to fight. She’s going to be part of the team that’s saving humanity, using powers most people don’t even know exists. There’s a reason that’s the plot of every video game ever. Still, the idea of shooting her daemon makes her uncomfortable, even knowing that she’ll be fine. “What’s it like?” she finally asks. “Becoming a Persona, I mean.”

Orpheus hums thoughtfully. “Strange,” she says at last. “You’re giving me a lot more power all at once. Not that I mind being able to magically light things on fire, but it’s a weird feeling.”

“And having a human shape doesn’t bother you?” Like most people, Minako has wondered what it would be like to have a human daemon, but it’s never been a major concern of hers. It just doesn’t happen.

“Given the metal joints and all, I don’t think that really counts as human.” Orpheus rolls onto her side. “It’s the shape that fits best for that moment. It’s no different from changing shape to follow you around.”

Minako doesn’t have any experience with shapeshifting, so she defers to the expert. “If you say so,” she says. “But you know what bothers me? Having to go to school with all of this. You’d think saving the world would make people cut you some slack.”

They continue the conversation talking about more normal things, the subject of Personas and Shadows temporarily dropped. Minako gets the feeling they’ll have a lot of time to think about that in the future. Right now, she’s just spent a week in the hospital and then made a life-changing decision. A little bit of normality is exactly what she needs.

 


End file.
